It might, this week, be an appropriate moment to remember a speech made three years ago by Ed Miliband at the Compass conference at the Institute of Education in London. He was, then, the Cabinet Office Minister – a “glorified special advisor”, according to Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre – having been elected MP for Doncaster North in 2005.
When he walked out onto the stage of the Logan Hall to make his keynote address, he looked nervous. At first, he kept his head down and he didn’t – bane of amateur actors everywhere as well as the heir to the throne – know what to do with his hands. But at least he looked the part – partly because he was wearing a fashionable two-piece Italian suit and partly because he wasn’t wearing a tie. Not socialist red, of the sort traditionally sported by Labour MPs, nor one of those purple prince of pleasure numbers flown by every New Labour apparatchik during the Blair-Brown years after first TB and then GB took to wearing royal purple in preference to revolutionary red.
Casually smart, with his crisp white shirt and well-cut suit, and wearing a body mic rather than standing behind the lectern, he was able to walk around the stage and, like an actor at the Rose or the Globe in Elizabethan England, he was able to engage in a moral debate directly with the audience. There were shades of David Cameron in this. Remember how Cameron pulled the plug from under David Davis during the leadership debate at the Conservative Party conference by turning up tieless and delivering a speech without notes?
Well, Ed, too, delivered a well-rehearsed speech apparently off the cuff. He began with a couple of jokes – a gag one or two of us had heard before about being called David and a better line about Tony Benn who was sitting in the front row of the 933-seat auditorium. He recalled working for Tony in his school holidays, opening the post, and had bumped into him that morning. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Tony had asked. “I didn’t know things were that bad…”
It was cute and it was clever and it was Ed at his best. It established his left-wing credentials, paid tribute to a veteran socialist, showed he was aware of the position the Labour Government was in and displayed a nice line in self-deprecating humour. It brought the house down, he relaxed and then he was off into the meat of his speech.In this, he didn’t shirk the problems facing the Government but neither was he despondent nor defeatist. He talked about the past, he talked about the future and he talked about the Tories. And it was riveting stuff.
At one point, he said: “What kind of society do I believe in? I want a society that is fairer than our society is today, and one where the next generation can do better than the last. I want a society that nurtures life outside the market, with families, friends and community, and creates more of a sense of belonging. I want a society where there is intergenerational equity, and where we tackle the biggest threat that humankind has faced: climate change. And I want a society where people have more control over their own lives.”
It was thoughtful, provocative and progressive. It spoke to everyone in the hall and, yes, it was inspirational. Many listening and applauding thought then that he would be the next Labour leader. Which is what this book is all about. There’s a lot of reportage, but not a lot of analysis, although if you want to know who said what – and did what – to whom, then this is the book for you.Leaders have to lead. It’s what they do. And it’s time for Ed, and those around him, to remember his speech in 2008 and do the “God for Harry, England and St George” bit now.
